Dante\'s Canto XXVIII
Dante begins the opening of Canto XXVIII with a rhetorical
question. Virgil and he have just arrived in the Ninth Abyss of the
Eighth Circle of hell. In this pouch the Sowers of Discord and Schism
are continually wounded by a demon with a sword. Dante poses a
question to the reader:
Who, even with untrammeled words and many
attempts at telling, ever could recount
in full the blood and wounds that I now saw? (Lines 1-3)
The rhetorical question draws the reader into the passage
because we know by this point in the Divine Comedy that Dante is a
great poet. What is it that Dante sees before him on the brink of the
Ninth Abyss that is so ineffable that he, as a poet, feels he cannot
handle?
In the following lines Dante expands on this rhetorical
position. He elaborates on why it is important for any man to offer a
good description of what he sees. No poet can achieve this
description: “Each tongue that......
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Approximate Word Count: 1761
Approximate Pages: 7 (260 words per double-spaced page) |